Medication reconciliation is a complex process that impacts all patients as they move through all health care settings. The process involves comparison of a patient's current medication regimen against a physician's admission, transfer, or discharge orders to identify discrepancies. Study data show that an effective process can detect and avert most medication discrepancies, potentially avoiding a large number of adverse drug events and related costs for care of affected patients.

This toolkit is based on the Medications at Transitions and Clinical Handoffs (MATCH) Web site. MATCH was developed by Gary Noskin, M.D., and Kristine Gleason, R.Ph., of Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, through the support of Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Grant No. 5 U18 HS015886 and collaboration between Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and The Joint Commission.

This toolkit incorporates the experiences and lessons learned by health care facilities that have implemented the MATCH strategies to improve their medication reconciliation processes.

Acknowledgements

The authors, who were supported in part by AHRQ Contract No. HHSA2902009000 13C, are responsible for the content, findings, and conclusions in this document, and it does not necessarily represent the view of AHRQ. No statement in this report should be construed as an official position of AHRQ or of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

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